The Purple Tank Engine

I was recently inspired by a friend of mine. She bakes amazing cakes and her fondant finishes are out of this world. What is even more impressive is that she is a dentist, owns her own practice and is a mom of an amazing two-year-old. So, in the spirit if being "Cheap and Cheerful" all-year-round I decided to make my son's third birthday cake. Now, my son’s first birthday cake was designed around a Monster Inc theme; his second birthday cake was a picnic table cake. In this vein, I had to pick a theme cake for his third birthday. After all, he has had theme cakes for the past two years and I am not going to stop now. So, with such resolute conviction and a can-do attitude I chose a Thomas the tank engine cake. I knew it would absolutely rock his world. 

Now you must realize I bake a mean pound cake but fondant, royal icing and butter creams are things that might as well be alien. So, with a can-do attitude I pulled up a bunch of YouTube videos to watch and learn how to make a Thomas the tank engine cake topper. After all, there is no better teacher than YouTube. Trust me on this.    

Now I must have watched this video a thousand times and with each iteration of the video, my confidence level grew. As we say in Naija, my head began to swell to unbelieve proportions:  I could not only make a Thomas the tank engine cake topper, I could build a plane, a castle, and even a transformer. In short, I could make anything; full stop. 

So, with my “swollen head”, I looked through my trusted pantry and found some purple fondant. With the YouTube video as a guide, I began to construct my purple tank engine. Never mind the tank engine was purple, no that didn’t deter me. As I watched the video, I slowly molded the tank engine’s wheels, chassis, coal box, whistle, funnel and drivers cab. I was almost done, now it was time for the hard part: the face. I rolled out a piece of fondant, used my cookie cutter and molded what I presumed was an exact replica of Thomas’ face. I was finally done.

As I looked at my fondant creation, it quickly dawned on me that my Thomas looked nothing like Thomas the tank engine. No in fact, mine looked like something out of a horror movie. Its nose was pointy, its eyebrows appeared sinister and its smile looked like a smirk. Now my confidence began to wane a little: should I show the engine to my soon to be three-year old after all, his opinion was the only one that counted. 

As Thomas says with a huff and a puff, I made up my mind. I plopped my engine on a plate and marched upstairs; determined to get an answer either way. I opened the door of my room, with plate in hand, and lying down on my bed was my son watching Sesame Street.  I walked into the room, he looked up and his face lit up: “Thomas, Thomas, mummy that is Thomas”. He jumped out of the bed and rushed to me, looking in wonder at his tank engine. He asked for the plate and carried it around, talking gently to the purple engine. 

His reaction to all my hard work made watching all those YouTube videos worth it. Now I believe, I can bake anything.